April 19, 2024

Hold the Salt: Surprising Findings on Low-Salt Diets, Heart Failure, and Quality of Life

For the previous century people with weak hearts have actually been informed to decrease their salt consumption, however previously there has actually been little clinical evidence behind the recommendation.
The biggest randomized clinical trial to take a look at salt reduction and heart failure reported outcomes at the same time in The Lancet and at the American College of Cardiologys 71st Annual Scientific Session over the weekend, and the findings were mixed.
Minimizing salt consumption did not lead to less emergency sees, hospitalizations or deaths for patients with heart failure, the scientists did discover an improvement in symptoms such as swelling, tiredness, and coughing, as well as better total quality of life.
” We can no longer put a blanket recommendation across all clients and say that restricting salt intake is going to reduce your chances of either passing away or being in the healthcare facility, but I can state conveniently that it could improve individualss quality of life in general,” said lead author Justin Ezekowitz, professor in the University of Albertas Faculty of Medicine & & Dentistry and co-director of the Canadian VIGOUR Centre.
The researchers followed 806 patients at 26 medical centers in Canada, the United States, Columbia, Chile, Mexico, and New Zealand. All were struggling with cardiac arrest, a condition in which the heart ends up being too weak to pump blood successfully. Half of the study individuals were arbitrarily assigned to receive typical care, while the rest got nutritional counseling on how to decrease their dietary salt consumption.
Patients in the nutritional counseling arm of the trial were offered dietitian-designed menu ideas using foods from their own area and were encouraged to prepare in the house without adding salt and to avoid high-salt ingredients. Many dietary salt is concealed in processed foods or dining establishment meals instead of being shaken at the table, Ezekowitz kept in mind.
” The broad rule that Ive learned from dietitians is that anything in a bag, a box, or a can typically has more salt in it than you would think,” said Ezekowitz, who is also a cardiologist at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and director of the U of As Cardiovascular Research Institute,
The target salt intake was 1,500 milligrams daily– or the equivalent of about two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt– which is the Health Canada suggested limitation for most Canadians whether they have cardiac arrest or not.
Before the study, clients took in an average of 2,217 mg per day, or simply under one teaspoon. After one year of study, the usual care group consumed approximately 2,072 mg of salt daily, while those who got nutritional guidance taken in 1,658 mg per day, a reduction of a bit less than a quarter teaspoon equivalent.
The researchers compared rates of death from any cause, cardiovascular hospitalization and cardiovascular emergency situation department gos to in the two study groups but discovered no statistically substantial difference.
They did discover consistent improvements for the low-sodium group using 3 different lifestyle evaluation tools, along with the New York Heart Association cardiac arrest classification, a measure of heart failure seriousness.
Ezekowitz said that he will continue to advise cardiac arrest patients to cut back on salt, and now he will be clearer about the expected benefits. He prompts clinicians to recognize that dietary modifications can be a beneficial intervention for a few of their patients.
The group will do additional research to separate a marker in the blood of clients who benefited most from the low-sodium diet plan, with the objective of being able to give more targeted individual diet plan prescriptions in the future. The researchers will likewise follow up the trial patients at 24 months and five years to identify whether more advantages are achieved over the long term.
Reference: “Reduction of dietary sodium to less than 100 mmol in heart failure (SODIUM-HF): a global, open-label, randomised, regulated trial” 2 April 2022, The Lancet.DOI: 10.1016/ S0140-6736( 22 )00369-5.
Meeting: American College of Cardiologys 71st Annual Scientific Session.
Financing: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, University Hospital Foundation, Health Research Council of New Zealand.

Study reveals how minimizing salt consumption can assist clients with heart failure.
Unexpected findings reveal a low-salt diet doesnt prevent death or health center sees, but does improve symptoms and quality of life.